Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) Shares Gap Down After Analyst Downgrade

Adobe Inc. (NASDAQ:ADBE)’s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Friday after Mizuho lowered their price target on the stock from $575.00 to $530.00. The stock had previously closed at $413.68, but opened at $392.50. Mizuho currently has an outperform rating on the stock. Adobe shares last traded at $386.98, with a volume of 3,412,937 shares trading hands.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on ADBE. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $450.00 target price on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday. Evercore ISI reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $475.00 price objective on shares of Adobe in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Adobe from $430.00 to $470.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Friday. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Adobe from $424.00 to $475.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on shares of Adobe from $650.00 to $590.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, March 31st. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, seventeen have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Adobe currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $494.67.

Insider Activity at Adobe

In related news, CFO Daniel Durn acquired 1,300 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 20th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $390.58 per share, for a total transaction of $507,754.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 29,876 shares in the company, valued at $11,668,968.08. This trade represents a 4.55% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Adobe

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its position in shares of Adobe by 252.9% in the fourth quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 55,658 shares of the software company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 39,888 shares during the period. 1248 Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Barnes Dennig Private Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe during the first quarter worth $26,000. SWAN Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Adobe during the 4th quarter worth approximately $28,000. Finally, Copia Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Adobe in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. 81.79% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Adobe Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.29, a quick ratio of 1.07 and a current ratio of 1.07. The firm has a market cap of $166.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 31.59, a PEG ratio of 2.15 and a beta of 1.55. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $386.76 and its two-hundred day moving average is $421.72.

Adobe (NASDAQ:ADBE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 12th. The software company reported $5.08 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $4.97 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $5.71 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.66 billion. Adobe had a return on equity of 45.87% and a net margin of 25.85%. During the same period last year, the company earned $4.48 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Adobe Inc. will post 16.65 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Adobe

Adobe Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates as a diversified software company worldwide. It operates through three segments: Digital Media, Digital Experience, and Publishing and Advertising. The Digital Media segment offers products, services, and solutions that enable individuals, teams, and enterprises to create, publish, and promote content; and Document Cloud, a unified cloud-based document services platform.